Jeannette youth football coach: Opposing players were using racial slurs

The head coach of the Jeannette Hawks youth football squad said he pulled his players off the field during a game Sunday after team members reported being called racial slurs by some opposing players from Penn-Trafford.

“At the beginning of the game, everything was fine,” said Hawks coach Tim Moore. “Then I had my kids coming over and telling me they were being called (a racial expletive).”

Sam DiNillo Jr., president of both the Penn Trafford Midget Football Athletic Association and its parent organization, the Big East Youth Football League, said the league is investigating.

Moore and Jeannette football parent Isaac Guest said DiNillo also was at the game and berated a Hawks player who was penalized for a hard tackle in the second half.

“One of my coaches said he heard Sam call the player a ‘son of a (expletive),’” Moore said. “The president of our league should never be talking to an 11-year-old player like that. I went to him and told him, he’s not going to yell at our players. If he wanted to come to me and say it, that’s fine, but he has no place saying that to a kid.”

Moore said he felt the game was threatening to get out of hand, with frequent penalties following the hard hit.

“Before it escalated further, I told them to stop the game, we got our stuff and left the field,” he said.

“The final five minutes were a disaster,” Guest said. “It was flag after flag and coaches and referees arguing on the field, and then us parents in the stands saw our kids just walking off with a minute and a half left.”

DiNillo told TribLive he was present at the game, but did not offer his account of events.

“The league is contacting the referees. Right now that’s all I know,” he said. “What they’re saying is not true. I just want to ensure everything’s done right.”

Big East Youth Football League Vice President Brad Mocharko confirmed the league has initiated an investigation, which is typically prompted by an official request from a team. Mocharko said the league had not received such a request from Jeannette as of Tuesday.

Moore said he woke up to “about 30 text messages” Monday from upset Hawks parents who spoke with their kids about the alleged verbal abuse, and met with parents prior to Monday’s team practice.

“If it was one kid who said it, that’s one thing,” Moore said. “But it was five different kids, including some of the white players on the team, who were telling me.”

Guest said his son was distraught after the game.

“He didn’t care about losing, but he was near tears,” Guest said. “He said the other team was out there the entire game calling the Jeannette players (racial expletives).”